Les Légions Noires (also known as The Black Legions in English, or simply abbreviated to LLN) was an avant-garde group of French underground

black metal Black metal is an extreme metal, extreme subgenre of heavy metal music. Common traits include Tempo#Beats per minute, fast tempos, a Screaming (music)#Black metal, shrieking vocal style, heavily distorted Electric guitar, guitars played with t ...

musicians and their bands, centered mostly around the city of

Brest Brest may refer to: Places *Brest, Belarus **Brest Region **Brest Airport **Brest Fortress * Brest, Kyustendil Province, Bulgaria * Břest, Czech Republic *Brest, France ** Arrondissement of Brest **Brest Bretagne Airport ** Château de Brest *Br ...

, in

Brittany Brittany (; french: link=no, Bretagne ; br, Breizh, or ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Bertaèyn'' ) is a peninsula, Historical region, historical country and cultural area in the west of modern France, covering the western part of what was known ...

. The bands involved limited their releases to very small numbers (often just enough to get to the other circle members), and distributed them among friends and close workers.

History

Possibly the circle was formed in the late 1980s, early 1990s, in response to the supposed Norwegian "

Black Metal Inner Circle The early Norwegian black metal scene of the 1990s is credited with creating the modern black metal genre and produced some of the most acclaimed and influential artists in extreme metal. It attracted massive media attention when it was revealed ...

". According to a 2005 series in ''

Terrorizer Terrorizer is an American grindcore band formed in 1986 in Los Angeles, California. After disbanding, its members gained recognition by playing in influential extreme metal bands, such as Morbid Angel ( David Vincent, Pete Sandoval), Napalm D ...

'' magazine on the history of black metal, "A bunch of corpsepainted characters, rumoured to be drawn from such acts as

Mütiilation Mütiilation was a French black metal project, traditionally known as a group, but later a solo project that consisted solely of its founder William "Meyhna'ch" Roussel who maintained activity under the name until its closing in 2017. Mütiilat ...

, Torgeist and

Vlad Tepes Vlad III, commonly known as Vlad the Impaler ( ro, Vlad Țepeș ) or Vlad Dracula (; ro, Vlad Drăculea ; 1428/311476/77), was Voivode of Wallachia three times between 1448 and his death in 1476/77. He is often considered one of the most im ...

named themselves the 'Black Legions' as a tribute to the so-called 'Black Mafia' Norwegian BM heroes

Darkthrone Darkthrone is a Norwegian extreme metal band from Kolbotn, Akershus. Formed in 1986 as a death metal band named Black Death, in 1991 Darkthrone embraced a black metal style influenced by Bathory and Celtic Frost and became one of the leadin ...

and

Burzum Burzum (; ) was a Norwegian music project founded by Varg Vikernes in 1991. Although Burzum never played live performances, it became a part of the early Norwegian black metal scene and is considered one of the most influential acts in black m ...

, who were supposedly ready to terrorize Christians a couple of years before." The first recordings of LLN members came about in the early 1990s, and their influence was acknowledged in the same issue of ''Terrorizer'': "One should never count out France, primarily as the home of the inscrutably influential Black Legions of ridiculous rawness during the mid-90s." Regarding their influences, Wlad Drakksteim of Vlad Tepes referred, in an interview with ''Petrified'' magazine, to

Hellhammer Hellhammer was a Swiss metal band from Nürensdorf, active from 1982 to 1984. Although the band's sound and style were heavily criticized and poorly reviewed during their active years, they have been widely praised in retrospect and are often re ...

and especially Bathory: "Every True Black Metal Horde should play in old Bathory style." When asked about the "Norwegian Black Metal Mafia", he said, "Norwegian mafia did lots of 'bad' things to this world. With Euronymous death MAYHEM is definitely dead and it's better like that as it will help Black Metal to return to darkness. uronymousmust be in peace now so I don't complain ament?him. And about Varg Vikernes (BURZUM) I don't have any opinion. WE have OUR opinions and he certainly knows them so..." The best-known bands of the LLN are Mütiilation (the one-man band formed by William Roussel, also known as Meyhna'ch), Belketre, Torgeist, and Vlad Tepes. Vlad Tepes have been outspoken in the goals of their black metal: "We are Black Legions of Satan, we are the immortal warriors of Black imperial blood. We are here to pervert christian worms and they shall face the Black holocaust. It's near!" While none of the bands involved in Les Légions Noires released any new material from 1998 to 2014, Belketre released a new EP entitled ''Ryan Èvn-A'' in 2015. It is unclear if the bands were inactive during that time or simply preferred not to release their material to the public.

Discography

: '' Hail Satanas We Are the Black Legions'' (1994) *

: ''War Funeral March'' (1994) * Vlad Tepes / Belketre: ''

March to the Black Holocaust Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1993. The name originated from the 15th-century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to the Black Legions. Vorlok ...

'' (1995) * Mütiilation: '' Vampires of Black Imperial Blood'' (1995) * Vlad Tepes / Torgeist: ''

Black Legions Metal Vlad Tepes was a French black metal band which was formed in Brest in 1993. The name originated from the 15th-century Wallachian ruler, the inspiration for Bram Stoker's fictional vampire Dracula. The group belongs to the Black Legions. Vorlok ...

'' (1996) * Belketre: ''Ambre Zuèrkl Vuordhrévarhtre'' (1996) * Vlad Tepes: ''La Morte Lune'' (1997)

Bands and projects

Notes

References

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Les Legions Noires Black metal Music scenes French music French rock music